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Lloyd Klein

About

Lloyd Klein was born in Canada in 1967 of French parents. His father was vice-President of an International airline. During his childhood Lloyd lived in 6 countries, primarily France and as a result speaks 5 languages fluently. His college years were spent as a serious student of architecture, with studies in Europe and an internship in the United States. He recognized that fashion was the field he wanted, after attending his first Paris fashion show (of Hubert de Givenchy) when he was 19. This made a deep impression on him.

He has not had any formal fashion school training, but developed a keen interest in the work of Yves St. Laurent, Jacques Fath, Givenchy and American classic Halston. In 1986 he staged his first show in Paris in a hotel ballroom. It was successful enough for him to be encouraged to continue on the fashion path. He could see that his ideas for sophisticated simplicity, fondness for glamour, original thought and dedication to new ideas were the way to go.

In Spring/Summer 1994, Klein presented a collection on the elegant stage of the Opera Comique in Paris. The following season, he stunned the French fashion community by accepting the appointment as head designer for the house of Madame Gres.

He remained there for 5 seasons, but simultaneously continued his own identity as a designer, creating separate seasonal collections which have been shown in London, Milan, as well as Russian and Asian cities.

In 1998, Klein set up his new company headquarters in the United States and in September 1999 presented his Spring/Summer 2000 collection at Bryant Park in New York.

His Fall 2001 collection was inspired by the Marlon Brando movie "Last Tango in Paris". One of the garments was an asymmetrical black leather dress. Actress Maria Schneider, who starred in the film, wore his clothes at the show. Practically everything that Lloyd Klein sent down the catwalk was black.

Klein's Spring 2002 collection was shown in Los Angeles. It was comprised of all white, simple yet sexy silhouettes.

Lloyd came back to New York to present his Spring/Summer 2003 collection. He chose as venue, the famous Studio 54 nightclub from the 70's. Using a tailoring technique he calls "coupe franc" (raw cut) he made dark gray jackets bursting with shocking pink frayed edges and navy blue separates marked by blood orange accents to give a bleeding effect.

He attributes this inspiration to the raw, frayed and bloody times of September 11th 2001 terrorist attack.

His ateliers are in Paris, his business headquarters in Los Angeles, USA, and his press and sales showrooms are in New York and Beverley Hills.

The media are dubbing Lloyd "the New Klein in Town" after the retirement of Calvin Klein. This is not really fair as he is hardly new. We have been seeing his exquisite clothes for a decade or more. His 2004 collection was inspired by strong and confident elegant women of the 1930's. He used masculine fabrics and turned them into feminine couture. Liquid satins, powdered crepes, crisp cottons, lush organza, bouncy tulle, irridescent silks and chiffons became garments that emphasized relaxed luxury. It was a very beautiful show and it seems that Lloyd is really the only "Klein in Town".

Everything was all set to show the Fall collection during New York Fashion Week in February 2004. However on the way to the airport in Paris, Lloyd Klein and his staff had a serious car accident, which forced the cancellation of the New York show. Lloyd's mother and his staff were relatively slightly injured, but Lloyd himself was in a coma for several days. He came round and has now recovered completely.

The Look

Klein's combination of intricate fabric draping, his signature sleeve cut, strong shoulder construction and choice of fabric are wonderful. He has truly mastered the difficult and precise draping and cutting techniques needed for his elegant garments.